Motorsport: Rally showdown in Coffs Harbour

WRC and ARC titles to be decided this weekend.

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The 2018 World Rally Championship will be decided in the forests surrounding Coffs Harbour this weekend.

Ford’s Sebastien Ogier, Hyundai’s Thierry Neuville and Toyota’s Ott Tanak are fighting it out for the sport’s top prize. Only three-points separate Ogier and Neuville with Tanak an outsider, 20-points adrift.

The manufacturer’s title is on the line with Toyota currently holding a 12 point advantage over Hyundai followed by Ford a further 13-points back. So the heat on the gravel roads this weekend will be intense.

Neuville led the championship for much of the season but that meant running first on the road, which is a major disadvantage on gravel rallies as the lead car effectively sweeps the loose surface clean for the following cars. With Ogier taking top spot in the standings after Rally Spain he will be clearing the road for his rivals this weekend. But the Frenchman is a five-time world champion and three-time Rally Australia winner so is still the favourite to take home the drivers’ title.

“It’s a very positive place to be compared to where we were when we were 23-points behind two rallies ago, and the pressure is now on our rivals to overhaul the deficit,” Ogier said.

“Of course we’re aware that opening the road will not be an easy task, but anything can happen and we are ready for the challenge. We’ve enjoyed a lot of success in Australia over the years and our goal is to add to that success.”

Neuville acknowledged he has let his big points advantage slip away in the second half of the season but he won in Coffs Harbour in 2017, so feels confident heading into the stages.

“Recent rallies have not gone our way and we now find ourselves involved in an incredible and intense championship fight,” he said. “All manufacturers and crews have had ups and downs this season, but we need to put all of this behind us and to focus on a perfect weekend in Australia.

“The benefit of dropping to second in the drivers’ championship is that we won’t be opening the road on the dusty gravel. It offers only a small advantage but everything counts now. We won from that position 12 months ago and we’ll be targeting the same result. That will be the best way to take the title.”

For Tanak, who forced his way into title contention thanks to a late season hat-trick of wins in Finland, Germany and Turkey, he knows he’s a darkhorse so will push as hard as he can in his Gazoo Racing Yaris WRC machine.

“I am going to give it my all in Australia. I still have a mathematical chance in the drivers' championship, and even though it is not really in my hands, I will keep pushing and not give up,” the Estonian said.

The fight for the Australian Rally Championship isn’t as close as it is in the WRC. Eli Evans holds a 57-point lead over closest title rival Harry Bates.

Evans is already a three-time series champion and has been the form driver of the series since switching from his AP4-specification Mini Cooper for an R5-spec Skoda Fabia.

Bates is competing in his locally-built Toyota Yaris AP4 that has been increasingly competitive during the season as the young driver comes to grips with the new machine. He will race the car again in 2019 for the new Toyota Gazoo Racing Australia squad.

While there is a big gap between the two title protagonists both know the unique rules in place for Coffs Harbour, because it run alongside the WRC, means there is less margin for error. With three days of competition it ensures any mistake could be a disaster for Evans. Not that he’ll be playing it safe.

“[Co-driver] Ben [Searcy] and I will give it our best shot to try and win the event rather than just protect the championship, because we don’t want to finish second third or fourth,” Evans said “I want to win and that is what we are going to try and do.”

Third placed Steve Glenney, who is only 8-points behind Bates, has swapped his Subaru WRX for a Skoda Fabia R5 so Evans won’t enjoy a car advantage like previous events.

Former champion Molly Taylor is 22-points behind Bates and only 13-points behind Glenney in fourth place in the standings. She knows the roads around Coffs Harbour can be unpredictable.

“We’re going to fight hard because there’s still every chance of us grabbing some championship honours,” Taylor said.

“Realistically, Eli is in the box seat, but timewise this is the longest rally in our domestic championship, and as we’ve seen throughout the series, it can produce a lot of attrition, so everything is up for grabs right across the top four teams.

“We’ll be focusing on our own performance rather than what the others are doing – that way we know we’ve got every chance of producing something special.”

Indycar: Gold Coast revival talks on

The boss of the US Indycar series will meet with Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk to discuss the possibility of reviving the Gold Coast Indy race.

Indycar CEO Mark Miles reportedly arrived in Australia on Thursday after receiving an invitation from Palaszczuk after she met with Australian Indycar driver Will Power recently. Power, who won the 2018 Indianapolis 500, met with the premier as part of a media tour during his annual holiday.

The speed of the meeting indicates serious intentions from both sides to resurrect the once-popular beachside race. Indycar first came to Australia in 1991 and ran on the Gold Coast streets until 2008, when the series decided to focus on US races.

However, Miles wants to add international events to the schedule with South American countries Brazil and Uruguay, as well as Mexico, reportedly targeted. The catch for Indycar and the Queensland Government may be the time of year Miles wants to race.

It’s understood his priority is to host the international Indycar races at the start of the season, which would mean a February or March race date, instead of the current October timing. That could cause a clash with Supercars organisers that have maintained a constant presence on the Gold Coast streets and have incorporated the race into its Season of Endurance schedule. It would also potentially run-up against the Formula One Grand Prix in Melbourne, which is traditionally held in March.

Despite Miles speedy visit, Indycar is unlikely to return in 2019 with 2020 the earliest the Australian race could be added to the schedule.

S5000: Newcastle demo for new car

The all-new S5000 open-wheeler category will make its public debut at next weekend’s Supercars finale in Newcastle.

Touring car legends and former open-wheeler drivers Greg Murphy and John Bowe will demonstrate the new V8-powered Formula One-style racer. The series is aiming to bring high-powered open-wheeler racing back to Australia for the first time since Formula Holden collapsed more than 15 years ago.

Murphy will drive the car on Friday before Bowe takes the wheel on Saturday and Sunday.

“To be one of the first people to drive the S5000 car is really special,” said Bowe.

“These will only be demonstration laps, but it is really going to give the Newcastle fans a real treat. Big, loud, modern race cars around a spectacular track.

“I grew up in open wheelers, I love them, and the introduction of this category is the best piece of open wheel news in Australia since Formula Atlantic was here in 1981.”

Baja 1000: Price and Brabham hit the desert

Toby Price will try and add another off-road trophy to his FIM World Rally Championship title this weekend. The Australian bike ace will compete in the Baja 1000 sharing a Trophy Truck with American Bryce Menzies.

The Baja event is a non-stop 1000-mile off-road race that attracts competitors from around the world to compete in the hi-tech Trophy Trucks, open-wheel buggies and motorbikes.

But Price won’t be the only Aussie in the field, with Matthew Brabham making his off-road racing debut. The third generation racer will team up with Todd Romano and Gavin Harlien in Wildcat XX RGpro UTV

“It was Robby’s decision to bring me on board, it’s not my background but I’m quite confident that I can get up to speed,” said Brabham.

“I’m going to go easy at first, but will hopefully be able to quickly get up to speed and have some fun.

“It’s a dangerous race but that’s the nature of off-road racing.

“Thanks to Robby and the guys at Textron for having me on board. It’s going to be good fun.”

MotoGP: Stoner and Ducati split

Former MotoGP world champion Casey Stoner has parted ways with the Ducati team.

The Australian was a test rider and brand ambassador for the Italian squad for the past three years but hadn’t been on a bike since pre-season testing. It’s not clear if Stoner will look for another role in MotoGP, having previously been a test rider for Honda post-retirement.

“Casey is and will always remain in the hearts of Ducatisti and it is also on their behalf that we wish to thank him for the important collaboration he has offered us over the last three years,” said Ducati CEO, Claudio Domenicali.

“His technical indications and suggestions, together with the work and the feedback of the factory riders and Michele Pirro, have helped to make the Desmosedici GP one of the most competitive bikes on the grid, and his advice for the development of our production bikes has been just as precious and useful.”

Stephen has been interested in cars as long as he can remember. Speed is in the blood as his great-grandfather was a motor racing pioneer in Australia, establishing several land speed and racing records.
Based in Sydney, professionally he has been writing about everything on four-wheels since 2001…

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